Red Shoe Diaries: The Movie

Soft-core drama czar Zalman King, creator of such erotic fictions as 9 1/2 Weeks (1986), Two Moon Junction (1988), and Wild Orchid (1990), directed this tale of doomed romance that served as the feature-length pilot for a long-running cable television series. David Duchovny stars as Jake Winters, an architect and city planner preparing to wed his fiancee, successful interior designer Alex (Brigitte Bako). What Jake doesn't know, however, is that the guilt-stricken Alex is carrying on a torrid affair with a macho construction worker and part-time shoe salesman named Tom (Billy Wirth). Torn desperately between her two lovers, Alex chronicles the relationships in her diary. After she commits suicide, a despondent Jake discovers the eye-opening journal and has a violent confrontation with Tom that leaves neither man with much emotional resolution. In an effort to understand women and his own grief, Jake places an anonymous advertisement in newspapers, encouraging women to confess their erotic secrets to him through the mail, and setting the stage for Red Shoe Diaries, the series. Although he was soon famous as the male lead in The X-Files, Duchovny honored his agreement with King to star in the adult series, appearing in wrap-around segments at the beginning and end of each episode.